HEC workshop on electronic library information navigators
By Ali Imran

ISLAMABAD—A three-day workshop on “Digital library promotion and user support best practices and an introduction to ELIN: Electronic Library Information Navigator” was arranged by the Higher Education Commission, concluded here Thursday.
A team of facilitators from the International Network for Availabilityof Scientific Publications (INASP), and Lund Libraries Sweden visited Islamabad to conduct the workshop, headed by Mr Martin Belcher, Senior Programme Manager, INASP and Mr Aron Lindhagen, Librarian, Lund University Libraries. The purpose of this event was to impart training on Electronic LibraryInformation Navigator (ELIN) and examine best practices for promoting and extending usage of digital library resources. Since the preliminary workshop arranged in June, 2005, access to this specific database had been extended to a further seven universities.
This expansion had been made after assessing the successful performance of the initial three universities that were provided with access in the pilot phase. ELIN is now available at 10 major universities across Pakistan, selected on the basis of their overall exemplary usage of theDigital Library resources.
Participants of the workshop included two representatives from eachparticipating Institution, consisting of library and networking professionals.
The format for this three day workshop consisted of a mixture of case study presentations from each Institution and group activities that allowed for sharing of e-resource library service development plans and identified common elements and features of successful strategies andbest practices required for the successful implementation of ELIN in various universities.
The participating universities include Pakistan Institute of Engineeringand Applied Sciences, Islamabad, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan, University ofAgriculture, Faisalabad, HEJ Research Institute, University of Karachi,University of Peshawar, Peshawar, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore and HEC’s Project and Regional Coordinators.
HEC’s Digital Library is focusing its activities on the enhancement of the quality of teaching research and maximizing the utilization of its resources.
This task involves creating awareness about specific resources available to each institution participating in the Programme and encouraging collaborative initiatives between the users of these resources.